urg:::IAEA says States lack controls over radioactive sources needed to build 'dirty bombs'

[Medical Association for Prevention of War, Australia]

UN News
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=4038&Cr=nuclear&Cr1=weapon
IAEA says States lack controls over radioactive sources needed to build
'dirty bombs'
[see also http://www.iaea.org/worldatom/Press/P_release/ ]

IAEA Headquarters
25 June 200 - The radioactive materials needed to build a "dirty bomb" can
be found in almost any country in the world, and more than 100 may have
inadequate controls to prevent or even detect the theft of these materials,
the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said today.
While radioactive sources number in the millions, only a small percentage
have enough strength to cause serious radiological harm, according to the
IAEA, which called for priority focus on these powerful materials.
"What is needed is cradle-to-grave control of powerful radioactive sources
to protect them against terrorism or theft," said IAEA Director General
Mohamed ElBaradei. "One of our priorities is to assist States in creating
and strengthening national regulatory infrastructures to ensure that these
radioactive sources are appropriately regulated and adequately secured at
all times."
Mr. ElBaradei pointed out that while a number of countries that have
regulatory systems in place are urgently stepping up security measures, many
lack the resources or the national structures to effectively control
radioactive sources. "Orphaned" radioactive sources - those that are outside
official regulatory control - are widespread in the former Soviet Union.
The IAEA, working in collaboration with the United States Department of
Energy and the Russian Federation's Ministry for Atomic Energy, has
established a tripartite working group to develop a coordinated and
proactive strategy to locate, recover, secure and recycle orphan sources
throughout the former Soviet Union.
According to the Agency, a dirty bomb does not use radioactive material to
produce a nuclear explosion, as a nuclear weapon would. Constructed using
conventional explosives and radioactive material, the detonation of a dirty
bomb would result in the dispersion of the radioactive material. As with any
explosion, people in the immediate vicinity could be killed or injured by
the blast itself, while the dispersed radioactive material could cause
radioactive exposure. In all likelihood, the most severe tangible impacts of
a dirty bomb would be the social disruption associated with the evacuation,
the subsequent clean-up of contaminated property and associated economic
costs.

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Ms. Giji Gya
Executive Officer, Medical Association for Prevention of War
(MAPW Australia)
giji.gya@mapw.org.au
www.mapw.org.au
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Ph: +61 (0) 413 594 717
Fax: +61 3 9427 7920
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PO Box 1379
Carlton (Melbourne)  VIC 3053, Australia

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